The term “Aliyah” means the gathering of Jewish people back to the Land.

According to the Holy Scriptures, the mass relocation of Jewish people back to Israel was predicted 64 times in the Old Testament. This is taken by many as a sign of the soon coming, or coming again of the Messiah.

Over the last 135 years, many adversities have caused migration to Zion. From Russia and Eastern Europe in the 1880s and 1890s [tag on the map] there came the First and Second Aliya. [arrows from Russia and eastern Europe to Israel] Anti-Semitic persecutions drove these early pioneers to face extreme adversity to clear the swamps and develop an agricultural economy.

Later, under the British Mandate, sensitivity to Arab wishes officially restricted this flow to 5,000 people per year. However, there was also an Aliya B, whereby unlikely immigrants were smuggled into the Land in violation of British restrictions.

By 1948, Israel had roughly 600,000 Jewish inhabitants. This number would double, when in response to UN sponsored statehood, surrounding Arab countries expelled their Jewish citizens. During the War of Independence, many Jews came off the boats and into the battle, sometimes given weapons, but without bullets. They also were without sufficient living quarters, so these new immigrants were forced to live in tents. From that time until today, the Israeli government has considered the welfare of new citizens to be its responsibility. Those new to the Land are given a housing stipend and transportation to attend a five-month Hebrew language course.

This somewhat gradual immigration process has been induced in one country after another over many decades, as the prejudice and hatred towards Jewish people has never been satisfied. And, the worldwide Jewish community has always accepted a financial burden to help in this regard. Also Christian Zionism, motivated primarily by the Bible, has provided economic fuel to facilitate this historical population shift.

This humanitarian generosity, paired with adversity amidst so many nations, has led to a fulfillment of Jeremiah 16:16 “Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”

From a historical perspective, a long term change seems well underway. Slightly over half the world's Jewish population now lives in Israel. Roughly five and a half to six million Jews presently live in the Diaspora. Numbers vary – mainly due to which definition of, 'who is a Jew?' is used. The greatest concentration of Jewish population is in America with over 5 million. France estimates its Jewish population at 400,000 to 450,000. Recent Moslem hostility has escalated French emigration to over 20,000 per year and it is increasing rapidly. The United Kingdom has roughly 250,000 Jewish people.

There is also a prophecy foretelling where this is all leading. Ezekiel 39:28 reads:

28.Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them anymore there.

At some point in history, it will be said in hindsight that this prophecy came true. Is that 20 years or 200 years from now? Israel's future demography can't be predicted with accuracy considering the many possible geopolitical developments that are possible.

Implicit in the statistics are some known parameters. Some 55% of American Jews now intermarry with Christians and the overwhelming majority (two thirds) of these raise their children and/or grandchildren, as former Jews. Also, outside of Israel, the Jewish birthrate is approximately 1.4%.

Each of these factors would reduce the Jewish population numbers by a third over a 40 year period. Taken together, in the near decades ahead, Jewish population outside of Israel will possibly amount to well under 2 million. This figure would be further reduced by increasing emigration due to various possible adversities, having to do with Anti-Semitism and the rise of aggressive Islam. For example, approximately half of America's Jewish population resides in the vicinity of New York City. A calamity in this area could greatly accelerate the fulfillment of this Ezekiel prophecy, stating that at some point in history, in general, anyone still left being a Jew will be back in the historic Jewish homeland.

The previous two prophecies are given above, but they are only a few examples of 64 more offered herein. Such prescience was spoken and written over a period of a thousand years by people who didn't necessarily know one another. This record was then preserved for us today for 2,500-3,500 years. Is that not supernatural? We live in the midst of a great miracle taking place. One lucky guess might be discounted, but the sheer number of accurate predictions about a Jewish population shift can, by any person willing to look at the facts, only be interpreted as a move of the Guiding Hand of Providence.

However there is a blindness by many people who don't want to know. For those who give respect to the Holy Scriptures, the meaning should be clear. God's favor has returned to Israel and He means to do good for the Land and its people at this time. There is a slow history unfolding and it will not be turned back. Instead of ignoring or resisting, why not become a supporter of the expected and predicted favorable outcome?

The Bible is a Middle Eastern story with the Jewish people at its center. God will fulfill His promises. Nothing can stop it

For those who would seek to thwart the future of the Promised Land, where are your prophecies? Here are ours:

1. Deuteronomy 10:1-5

2. 2 Chronicles 30:6-9

3. Nehemiah 1:6-9

4. Psalms 14:7

5. Psalms 106:44-48

6. Psalms 107:2-3

7. Psalms 126:1

8 Psalms 147:2

9. Isaiah 11:11-12

10. Isaiah 14:1-2

11. Isaiah 27:12-13

12. Isaiah 35:10

13. Isaiah 41:8-10

14. Isaiah 43:5-6

15. Isaiah 49:11-12

16. Isaiah 49:22-23

17. Isaiah 51:11

18. Isaiah 52:7-9

19. Isaiah 54:6-8

20. Isaiah 56:8

21. Isaiah 60:4-5

22. Isaiah 60:8-9

23. Isaiah 61:4-7

24. Isaiah 66:20-22

25. Jeremiah 3:14-18

26. Jeremiah 16:14-16

27. Jeremiah 23:3-4

28. Jeremiah 23:5-8

29. Jeremiah 24:4-7

30. Jeremiah 29:10-14

31. Jeremiah 30:1-3

32. Jeremiah 30:4-11

33. Jeremiah 31:8-9

34. Jeremiah 31:10-14

35. Jeremiah 31:15-17

36. Jeremiah 31:18-22

37. Jeremiah 31:23-25

38. Jeremiah 31:26-33

39. Jeremiah 32:37-41

40. Jeremiah 32:42-44

41. Jeremiah 33:7-9

42. Jeremiah 50:1-5

43. Jeremiah 50:17-20

44. Ezekiel 11:14-20

45. Ezekiel 20:34-38

46. Ezekiel 20:40-44

47. Ezekiel 28:25-26

48. Ezekiel 34:11-16

49. Ezekiel 36:7-12

50. Ezekiel 36:22-38

51. Ezekiel 37:1-14

52. Ezekiel 37:15-28

53. Ezekiel 38:8

54. Ezekiel 39:25-29

55. Hosea 11:10-11

56. Joel 2 :3; 3:2

57. Amos 9:14-15

58. Micah 2:12-13

59. Micah 4:6-7

60. Micah 4:10

61. Zephaniah 3:17-20

62. Zechariah 8:7-8

63. Zechariah 10:6-12

64. Zechariah 12:6-10

One prophecy not enumerated above, but it seems to apply to the number of Jewish immigrants in the Land, is Isaiah 49:19-20 (CJB).

(19) For your desolate places and ruins and your devastated land will be too cramped for those living in it; your devourers will be far away. (20) The day will come when the children born when you were mourning will say to you, "This place is too cramped for me! Give me room so I can live!"

This would seem particularly applicable to the suburbs north of Tel Aviv, where Israel is only nine miles wide. When giving proper respect to the validity of the scriptural prophecies, the Palestinian West Bank (Judea and Samaria) doesn't seem like such a mystery. God will provide the living space and accommodate the continued influx of returning Jewish exiles.